Chapter 1: Fox's party

James walked in after another long mission. He sighed, sat down and put his boots up on the table. After six hours of sitting in an Arwing doing patrol, a bed of hot coals would have been a creature comfit to him. At least the enemy hadn't returned.

"Dad?" Called a voice from down stairs, "Is that you?"

"Yes Fox, it's me" he replied, "Who else do you think it would be?"

James looked around. "You haven't had any one over since I've been gone, have you?"

Meanwhile, down stairs Fox bit his lip nervously.

"N-n-no," Fox stammered, trying his best to sound confident. "I haven't had anybody over while you were away".

The truth was: Fox was lying through his front teeth. He had invited over just about every one he knew for a huge party. In fact, he had even invited the kids he didn't like, just for the heck of it.

"Fox McCloud, if you're lying to your own father then don't think I'm going to take you out for a drive later. 'Cause I'm sure as hell won't." James warned.

Fox took a deep breath. 'Ok, let me think this through,' Fox thought. 'If I tell him about the party (or parties, I can't remember how many I had) then I'm screwed and he wont let me drive, but if I don't tell him and he finds out, which he always does, then I'm screwed and he wont let me drive anyway.' Fox slumped down further into his chair, as far as he could see there was no way out.

While Fox was trying to think his way out, James went over to the hover fridge to grab a beer. He immediately saw two things that pointed to Fox having had a party:

There were 5 beers in the six-pack left, and when James had left there had been 6. And:

Fox had tried to cover it up, but he had brought the wrong brand of beer.

Down stairs, Fox was still desperately trying to think his way out of the mess he was in. 'Ummm…oh, if only Slippy or Falco were here. They'd know what to do. Heck, even Bill would come in use here'

Then fox heard heavy combat boots coming clunking down the stairs.

'Oh . Here he comes. Ok, get your story straight… it was Falco's idea. Yeah that's it. I'll go with that.'

James poked his head into Fox's bedroom.

"Fox do you really think that I was born yesterday?" James asked dryly.

"Well, I'd better hope not. With me being 17 and all, 'cause that would be awkward." Said Fox, trying to lift the mood a little, but as soon as he saw James's face, all attempts at humour stopped.

"How many people Fox?" James asked coldly.

"How many people what?" Fox replied, trying to play the fool.

"Now Fox. We can do this the easy way, the hard way or the Mccloud way. Which one do you want?"

"Um, only ten people. And it wasn't a party it was my, my, my… Study group. Yeah Study-." Fox said, a little to quickly. But James cut him off.

"So you chose the hard way." James stated to no one in particular.

"Ok, ok. About sixty people." Fox said, looking at the ground.

"One more lie and it becomes the Mccloud way." Said James, preparing to put boot to tail.

"Fine! Ok! Anything! Just don't do it the Mccloud way!" Fox said, panicking. He remembered the last time he was stupid enough to try something with his dad the Mccloud way. He still had the scars.

"So how many people were at this party of yours?" James asked.

Fox thought hard for a second, hesitated, shifted in his seat. Then he quickly said, "Two hundred. Two fifty. Maybe."

James jaw dropped. There was silence. For one split second Fox thought he was safe.

Then:

"TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY! TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY!"

The tiles on the roof shook, and Fox desperately tried to calm his father down. "But dad, it was, um, Rob's idea! Yeah! I'm telling you!"

"ROB'S A ROBOT YOU IDIOT! WHY WOULD HE WANT TO PARTY! BESIDES I DON'T CARE WHO'S IDEA IT WAS! JUST WHO'S HOUSE IT WAS IN!" James yelled, looking like he was about to explode.

"Please dad just calm down! Then we can talk it though like the two mature fox's we are" Said Fox. This was his final attempt to not get beaten to a pulp before he ran.

"FINE! Ok." James took a deep breath, and looked considerably less murderous.

"That's it dad. Breathe in and out, in and out" Fox said in a soothing tone.

"Shut up Fox! You're still up the creek without a paddle," snapped James. "Right. Now, before I punish you for going against my wishes, is there anything you wish to tell me about?"

"No." said Fox in a hurry. "That's it."

James sat down and thought for a second. "Ok. Well, this is partly my fault. I shouldn't have left you on your own. You, alone in the house for the first two weeks of summer break. I should have sent you to Slippy's." He sighed, and said "Ok Fox, you can't drive until I get back from my next mission."

"But you don't have a mission! And who knows how long it could take before you get another one! It could months! Years maybe!" Fox cried out.

"Well, I hope you had a great party," Said James as he got up. "Go get a good nights rest."

As James shut the door, he grinned. 'I love cruel and unusual punishment' he thought to himself. "Good night, Fox."

"Good night dad," said Fox. He muttered something like 'bedtime' angrily.

"Oh, Fox?" James said poking his head back around from the corner.

"Yeah?" Fox said, looking up from his Nintendo holo-boy.

"The type of beer I drink is Keltion not Kaltac" James said dryly.

'Bugger,' thought Fox. "Ok. Good night dad."

"Good night son. Try and get a good nights sleep. You'll need it. Trust me."